What is a mechanical reasoning test?
A mechanical reasoning test asks how simple machines behave: which way a gear turns, how much force a lever or a pulley needs, how far springs stretch. Employers use such tests when hiring for technical jobs, apprenticeships, firefighting and the armed forces, because they show whether someone can picture how forces and motion pass through a machine. This page is a short practice version with its own questions and drawings.
You get 10 questions, each with a diagram: 2 on gear direction, 2 on gear turns, 2 on belts, 2 on levers, 1 on pulleys, 1 on springs. Pick an answer and the reason is shown before the next question. Every machine is ideal: no friction, and ropes, beams and pulleys weigh nothing.
How is your Mechanical Reasoning Test result calculated?
Your score is how many of the 10 you answered right. The time beside it counts only answering, from each question appearing to your choice; reading the explanations is free. Every question is generated with new numbers, and its answer is worked out from the same numbers the diagram is drawn from; the site's tests recompute each answer from the drawing alone and check exactly one option is right. There is no rating, because no published typical score exists for a test built like this one.
How do gears work in mechanical reasoning questions?
Two touching gears turn opposite ways, so along a chain the direction flips at every gear: the first, third and fifth turn one way, the second and fourth the other. Speed goes with the teeth: the same number of teeth pass on both gears, so a gear with 30 teeth turning 2 times turns a 10-tooth gear 30 × 2 ÷ 10 = 6 times. A belt works like a pair of gears, except that an open belt keeps the direction and a crossed belt reverses it.
What is mechanical advantage?
It is how much a machine multiplies your force. A pulley system's advantage is the number of rope segments holding the load: with four, you pull a quarter of the weight, but four times as far. A lever balances when weight × distance from the pivot is the same on both sides, so 30 kg at 2 steps balances 20 kg at 3 steps.
| Machine | The rule used here |
|---|---|
| Gears | Touching gears turn opposite ways; turns × teeth is the same on both |
| Belts | Open keeps the direction, crossed reverses it; the smaller wheel turns faster |
| Levers | Balanced when weight × distance is equal on both sides |
| Pulleys | Pull = load ÷ number of rope segments holding it |
| Springs | In a chain stretches add up; side by side they share the load |
How do you pass a mechanical reasoning test?
- Learn the handful of rules. Most questions on gears, levers, pulleys and springs use the five in the table above.
- Draw the arrows. For a gear chain, mark each gear's direction in turn instead of trying to picture them all at once.
- Count before you calculate. Rope segments, gear teeth and lever steps are on the diagram; the arithmetic is usually one multiplication or division.
- Practise with feedback. Reading why an answer is right, as this page shows after each question, is what makes the rules stick.
Is this the Bennett or ASVAB mechanical test?
No. Employers use published tests such as the Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test, and the US armed forces use the Mechanical Comprehension part of the ASVAB. Those have their own questions, time limits and scoring against other test-takers. This page is not affiliated with any of them and can't predict a result on them; it covers the same basic ideas, for practice.
For another reasoning test with diagrams, try the Paper Folding Test; for counting cubes in 3D, the Block Counting Test.